Padres find unexpected upside to playing without Fernando Tatis Jr.

Without Fernando Tatis Jr., the Padres’ defense made history

The San Diego Padres lineup is markedly better with Fernando Tatis Jr. in it, but apparently, the same can’t be said for the infield.

Without their young star, the Padres just made MLB history as the first team to open the season with 11 consecutive games without an error.

The Padres and Kansas City Royals are the only two teams without an error thus far in the season, while the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks lead the league with nine apiece. But considering the Padres have a two-time Gold Glove and Platinum Glove-winner in Manny Machado at third, and four-time Gold Glover Eric Hosmer at first, impeccable defense is to be expected.

In 2021, Tatis’ 22 errors tied Boston’s Rafael Devers for second-most errors in MLB (though Devers played 24 more games). The Padres star made 21 errors at shortstop last season, as well as one in the outfield. It’s actually an improvement over his 2019 season when he made 18 errors in only 83 games.

The Padres’ shortstop-slash-outfielder is sidelined until at least early June with a wrist fracture that required surgery. In his absence, Ha-seong Kim and rookie C.J. Abrams are filling time at short.

But as many fans noted, the error-less streak comes at the cost of a serious lack of offensive production without Tatis.

The Padres would probably trade a few errors to have Tatis back, but in the meantime, making history is pretty cool, too.

Nabil Crismatt and Jorge Alfaro make MLB history in Padres victory

Padres starting pitcher Nabil Crismatt and catcher Jorge Alfaro made Major League Baseball history on Sunday as the first Colombian battery to start a game.